This chapter was brought to you by the collaboration between PolterGlast and Saekano Translations.
---------------------------------------------
Volume 1 Chapter 6.5
An Unforgettable Birthday Part 5
Translator : PolterGlast
Nozomu bit his lip.
There were some
factors that could have led him to guess that Rugato was a vampire.
But as it turned out,
he missed it, and the situation had become irreversible.
In the first place,
the Dizard Empire had no contact with other countries, and no one had actually
seen a vampire's appearance.
If he had released his
[Ability Suppression] as soon as he realized the difference in strength between
him and Rugato, neither Tima nor Mars would have suffered unnecessary injuries,
and the result might not have been as bad as it was.
And now, Nozomu and
his friends were defeated and were now crawling on the floor.
A feeling of deep
regret welled up in Nozomu's heart, and his mind began to tense up.
He looked up to see
Rugato and his contracted familiar resurrected.
"Stop! Please
don't do this! If you want a soul, you can have mine! So please, don't take
Somia away from me!"
Irisdina's sorrowful
cry, who was being restrained in the same way as Nozomu, further tightened
Nozomu's chest.
Meanwhile, the
familiar of the contract had pulled out Somia's soul.
The expression on the
little girl's face, which had been smiling so cheerfully, drained away, and her
previously colorful skin turned pale all at once.
Her face looked the
same as the dying face that Shino had on her face when she was about to die.
"Guuuu......!"
Nozomu's mind recalled
the sadness that tore his whole body apart.
He could not save the
person with whom he had finally opened his heart. Even though he had gained
power, that power could not save Shino.
But sadness was not
the only thing that welled up in his chest at that time.
Shino was smiling for
the last time in the arms of her beloved disciple.
She had passed away with
a satisfied smile on her face.
Even now, her death
still saddened him, and his eyes would involuntarily moisten whenever he
reminisced about it.
Even so, he had no
regrets.
He was able to accept
his master's heartfelt messages for him in the end.
(Then what about now?
Is it alright for me to just sit here and watch Somia-chan die?)
No, definitely not.
At the very least,
Nozomu Bountis could not accept this ending.
Nozomu grabbed the
invisible chains of [Ability Suppression] that bound him.
Fear, guilt, regret,
grief, resentment, anger. The invisible chains creaked and rattled as the
various emotions overflowed, one after the other.
Then, Nozomu's ears
suddenly heard a voice.
"Someone ......
please. Help ...... me ......"
What he heard was
Irisdina's sorrowful plea. Her voice was so weak that it was hard to imagine it
from her usual self.
The moment he heard
it, Nozomu shrugged off all the anguish he had been feeling, tore off the
chains that bound him, and released his [Ability Suppression].
◆
Explosive force
ravaged the surroundings.
As if to say,
"Don't do whatever you please!", the torrent of Qi swept away
Rugato's magic and ran rampant.
"W-, what in the
world is this? ......"
Rugato turned his
attention to the source of the power that had suddenly begun to rampage and saw
a boy standing up, gripping and clutching the chains that wrapped around his
body.
The next moment, the
boy tore Rugato's restraining magic apart like scraps of paper.
"Wha!?"
While Rugato was
letting out a startled voice, Nozomu sprinted and leaped at the familiar of the
contract.
The katana at his
waist was drawn, and multiple flashes of the strike struck the familiar.
The familiar was cut
into tiny pieces and then dispersed once again.
Rugato hastily moved
away to reconfirm the boy's appearance.
His outward appearance
had not changed, but a visible dense Qi was emanating from his body.
Rugato could not see
through Nozomu's movements.
He suppressed the
turmoil that welled up in him and glanced sideways at the boy's companions, who
were also staring at the boy with astonished expressions on their faces.
(They don't seem to
know what is going on either, huh? Certainly, such an amount of Qi is obviously
unusual for a human being to possess.)
The familiar of the
contract was created by the former head of the Waziart family, whom Rugato once
served, and if it were ranked, it would be powerful enough to reach the rank of
A.
Rugato, being urged by
the sense of danger crawling up his back, used his ten fingers to activate
multiple magic spells.
A storm of magic
bullets, far denser than ever before, pounced on Nozomu.
Faced with the
oncoming storm of magic bullets, Nozomu activated his [Flash Step] to break
away.
The magic bullets
couldn't even graze his body, but landed on the walls and floor, scattering
debris in the air.
Rugato did not seem to
be bothered and kept firing magic in rapid succession.
He not only shot magic
bullets but also erupted flames from the floor and controlled his floating
blood sword to slash at him.
Rugato's attacks,
however, failed to inflict even a scratch on Nozomu's body.
Nozomu took a fast and
complicated curved motion, dodging all the magic Rugato fired at him and
slashing at the oncoming blood sword.
(Wha!? Too fast!)
While moving faster
than a vampire's kinetic visual acuity, Nozomu was in full control of all his
movements without losing his speed.
Rugato's mind was
overshadowed by the drastic change in Nozomu's power, and the accuracy of his
magic dulled slightly.
In an instant, Nozomu
rushed forward and closed the gap between the two in a flash, as if he was
weaving through the gap in Rugato's mind.
"Guuu!"
Rugato managed to
parry the blade that was swung sideways at him with the blood sword he had
quickly generated.
Along with the impact,
both of Rugato's arms were subjected to intense pressure.
He tried to push
Nozomu back by putting all his strength into his arms and even using
strengthening magic, but the blades, which were firmly locked together, did not
move even a muscle.
(Kuh, I'm being
pushed!)
Rugato was supposed to
be far superior in terms of specs as a vampire race, but on the contrary,
Nozomu began to push him back.
Nozomu's blade was
closing in on him.
Judging that he would
be pushed away at this rate, Rugato began to pour all his magic power into the
blade of his blood sword at once.
"Haaaaa!"
The blood sword
exploded due to the excessive magic poured into its blade, and Rugato's body
was blown away by the impact of the explosion.
The shards of the
blood sword scattered by the impact injured his body, but the vampire's
regenerative ability healed the wounds in the blink of an eye.
In the gap between the
explosions, Rugato jumped to get out of the way as much as possible and
activated his magic with his ten fingers.
A huge shadow expanded
on the floor of the hall and began to bubble forth.
Nozomu came charging
through the smoke of the explosion.
His body was unscathed
probably because he had sensed the explosion and managed to leap backward.
The next moment, a
black jaw reminiscent of the mouth of a giant lizard sprang out of the shadow
and attacked Nozomu.
[The Great Jaw of
Moros]
A high-level magic and
classified as advanced magic.
A huge mouth, so large
that it occupies the entire width of the great hall, comes in to swallow Nozomu
from under his feet.
" ~!"
But Nozomu, on the
contrary, used the jaw that was trying to chew him up as a foothold to leap. He
then kicked the ceiling, closing the gap between himself and Rugato in a flash.
"Kuh!"
Rugato ran while
generating blood swords in both hands, trying to keep as much distance from
Nozomu as possible.
He also dexterously
used his pinky finger to fire a magic bullet as a distraction, but it was
easily deflected, finally allowing Nozomu to close in on him.
The two engaged in a
high-speed exchange of slashes as they ran around in various directions.
However, Rugato was
quickly cornered by Nozomu.
He tried to fend off
the oncoming Nozomu by swinging his two blood swords, but the fast and precise
katana broke the defense of Rugato's twin swords in just a few strikes, carving
lacerations on the vampire's body.
"Guh~, ugh~,
gah!"
Nozomu kept slashing
at Rugato, coiling around him like a serpent.
Even if Rugato could
heal his wounds with the vampire's regenerative abilities, the pain caused by
the lacerations was certainly driving him over the edge.
Eventually, Rugato's
posture was greatly shaken by a slash to his leg when he tried to break away.
Though Rugato managed to regain his posture, his legs were now completely
stopped.
"Crap-......"
"Haaaaa!"
And then the battle
turned into a standstill exchange of blows.
The speed at which
wounds were being carved into Rugato's body increased at an accelerating rate.
"Guh...... -no,
not yet."
As Rugato's body was
carved with more lacerations, he quickly transformed himself into a swarm of
bats.
Nozomu's slashes cut
through empty space, not hitting the countless bats.
Rugato then directed
the bats toward Nozomu.
Countless fangs and
claws were rushing toward Nozomu, but he skillfully used his katana and
scabbard to knock them down.
However, the
overwhelming number of bats gradually overwhelmed Nozomu, and wounds began to
appear on his body.
The bats kept flooding
in, trying to swallow Nozomu.
The next moment,
however, Nozomu raised his fist and slammed it down on the floor.
[Qi-jutsu・Light of Annihilation]
A burst of light
erupted from the floor and incinerated all of the bats that were rushing toward
Nozomu.
"Guaaaaaa!"
Literally being burned
throughout his body, Rugato was forcibly transformed back to human form from
his bats form.
Smoke billowed from
his entire body, and the smell of burning flesh filled the hall.
The pain was so
intense that Rugato's consciousness became clouded. When he came to, he found
that Nozomu had finished preparing for a follow-up attack.
An enormous amount of
Qi was sent to the katana that Nozomu was carrying, and it was compressed in
the blink of an eye.
The blade, which had
been infused with a dense Qi-blade, was sheathed, and a powerful surge of Qi
could be felt by Rugato.
Rugato felt a chill
like never before at the sight of Nozomu ready to strike, and he deployed his
barrier with all his might.
Magic barriers that
could withstand even advanced magic were deployed in four layers.
Although these four
magic barriers were thin, their durability was comparable to that of the walls
of a fortress.
If one were to think
about it, the only attack that could break through these barriers would be the
largest scale ritual magic.
And then, the blade
that had been sheathed was pulled out.
The blade of Qi,
compressed and sharpened to an extremely compact thickness, sliced through the
four layers of barriers without difficulty at the same time as the blade was
drawn, cutting the contract Rugato was carrying as well as his body in two.
◆
The [Qi-jutsu・Phantom] he unleashed severed Rugato's body in two.
The contract he was
holding was also cut in two, and the familiar that was about to be resurrected
dissipated, along with its black sphere.
The chains restraining
Somia also disappeared, and her soul, which was taken out, returned to her body
as if pulled by the trail of light.
"Somia!"
Perhaps because Rugato
was defeated, Irisdina was also freed from the restraining magic.
She rushed toward
Somia in a hurry and lifted her sister's body in her arms.
"Ane......-sama......"
Irisdina, who had been
shaking her sister's body repeatedly as she cried out her sister's name, was so
relieved when she heard her sister's voice and burst into tears.
"Thank goodness.
I'm so glad ...... u, uuuu......"
Seeing Irisdina
hugging her sister's body tightly while sobbing, Nozomu breathed a sigh of
relief that Somia had regained consciousness and that the battle had been
settled before Tiamat's power overwhelmed him.
Nozomu looked down at
his arm again and saw that blood was beginning to seep out of the fabric under
the uniform.
His body was beginning
to suffer lacerations, unable to withstand Tiamat's power that he had
unleashed.
His whole body seemed
to be screaming in pain and exhaustion.
Time is running out.
Trying not to reveal
his wounds and the strain he was currently under, Nozomu slowly turned his gaze
back to Rugato.
Rugato had been
severed from the left shoulder to the waist, but to his surprise, he was still
alive.
He was bleeding
profusely from the mouth, but he remained conscious and looked up at the boy
who had defeated him.
"Fufu~. A vampire
of my caliber won't die ...... unless ...... you destroyed ...... my heart
...... or my head. As long as it's not destroyed, I won't ...... die. And also,
your katana wasn't made of mithril either ......."
Nozomu looked
surprised, but inwardly felt relieved.
Even if he had to
fight for his life, he did not want to be a murderer.
Now the question was
whether this old vampire still intended to go after Somia's soul.
Nozomu slowly thrust
the tip of his katana in front of the dying Rugato's eyes to ascertain his
intentions.
"Rest assured.
You have defeated ...... me. That is why ...... I will not ...... take
Somia-sama's soul with me."
In order to intimidate
him, Nozomu let his Qi exude from his whole body.
"Besides,......
the contract to control the familiar has also been destroyed. Thus, the
contract is virtually impossible ...... to be fulfilled. What remains is for
the ...... Waziart and Francilt families to discuss the matter and settle
it."
Rugato, lying on the
floor, was already in no condition to fight.
In the face of the old
man's words and his vanished will to fight, Nozomu exhaled heavily, as if it
was finally over, and sheathed his katana.
Invisible chains
wrapped around his body again, and the immense power that had overflowed
vanished as if it had been an illusion.
"Ah-, my legs
feel weak ......."
The recoil that
followed hit Nozomu along with an intense sense of weariness.
His legs lost their
strength and he collapsed to the floor.
He looked up to see
the Francilt sisters, holding hands, coming toward him in a panic.
Mars and Tima had also
managed to raise their tattered bodies on the ground and were looking at Nozomu
and the others while leaning close to each other.
Tima smiled when she
noticed Nozomu's gaze, and Mars looked surprised.
The sight of
everyone's safe appearance finally relaxed his shoulders, and a breath of
relief escaped his lips.
Now, how do I explain my
power to them? Exhausted, Nozomu could not think of a way to explain his power.
Putting all the
complicated matters aside, he was just happy that he was able to protect
everyone's smiling faces.
Perhaps due to the
release from the tension, a sudden feeling of drowsiness came over him.
In the blink of an
eye, the backlash caused by the release of his [Ability Suppression] quickly
dragged his consciousness down into the depths of a dark swamp.
◆
